Last night, after months of anticipation and excitement, I took my 9 year old daughter Zoë to watch her idol Kelly Clarkson in concert at the Grand Arena in Cape Town.
All I can say is WOW!
The show kicked off South African Idol winner
Jason Hartman, who charmed the crowd with his smooth talking and catchy tunes. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised – he and his band rocked and got the crowd suitably amped up for the main event. After a short half hour set, Jason bade his fans farewell and the crew cleared the stage to set up for Kelly.
At 8pm sharp (wait, this is Cape Town – isn’t everything supposed to run late?), the darkened stage burst into sound and light as Kelly and her band made an energetic entrance.
The crowd, of course – went mad!
In the past week I’ve heard great things about Kelly Clarkson’s live act from various reviews of the
Johannesburg and
Durban shows, but I can honestly say that this lady is super talented. The moment she started singing I got chills which pretty much stayed with me for the whole show. Personally I would say that she must be
one of the best pop singers out there today – her voice is amazing and she makes hitting those notes look so effortless! For someone so small, she really has a set of lungs!
In between belting out all of her well known songs, she included two great covers. One was a mash up of Alanis Morrisett’s “If I would be good” and the Kings of Leon hit “Use somebody” and the other was a hauntingly beautiful rendition of The Black Keys “Lies”. It seems as if she can sing anything and you get the feeling that she truly feels the emotion behind the lyrics.
Throughout the show she was chatty and charming, entertaining the crowd with stories behind the lyrics of her songs, making jokes and poking fun at herself. She seems so sincere and fun – the kind of girl you’d like to have in your circle of friends. She got genuinely excited when hearing the 5000 strong crowd screaming her lyrics back at her.
When it came for her final song – her mega hit
“My life would suck without you” everyone in the audience was on their feet, jumping up and down and singing along. In the frenzy that followed, Kelly thanked the audience, promised to come back, said goodbye and then with just as much energy as in the beginning of the show, she
bounced off stage.
I must add that Zoë (above) who has been a huge fan for years, was completely in awe from beginning to end. This was her very first “big” concert and the combination of lights, sound and seeing her hero in the flesh left her speechless after the show (well, that and the fact that she had screamed herself voiceless). I was a bit concerned that we would have a problem getting her up this morning after the late school night, but she was up in a flash and dying to get to school to tell her friends about her amazing night.
If Kelly does come back to SA - and I hope that she does, we will most definitely see her again. With that voice and enchanting personality, I am sure that everyone who was there last night feels the same.
